Category Archives: Interior Design

If you are anything like me, winter time usually means an excess of clutter! Call me a hoarder, but my things give me comfort through the chilly winter nights. My jackets, scarves, mittens, boots, heavy knit sweaters, wool socks and handmade hats can usually be found scattered throughout my bedroom & closet throughout the colder months– but finally, we’re starting to see signs of springtime. And finally, I can start to pack up. As I started packing away some of my winter clothes this past weekend, I realized that I didn’t really have a good place to keep everything. Do I just stuff them into a drawer or into my closet? Should I shove it all under my bed and dig it out again come next winter? None of these solutions really worked for me, as someone who favors style and organization. After lots of deliberation, I found my solution: Blanket Chests!

Hardwood blanket chests are a great solution for storing your excess winter clothes! They look beautiful & are actually very versatile. While the images shown in this blog feature blanket chests used at the bottom of the bed, they can also be used as a coffee table or large side table.

My picks for 3 hardwood blanket chests that are perfect for packing away your winter clothes and blankets in style:

Quick Tip: Rotate between seasons and store your bathing suits, flipflops and shorts during the winter, and your wintery attire during spring and summer!

1. Contemporary Craftsmen Blanket Chest: Our premium quality solid wood Contemporary Craftsman Blanket Chest, with it’s gentle curves and graceful lines is the perfect complement to your contemporary bedroom. Perfect for those thick winter blankets or extra sheets. All our luxury Contemporary Craftsman collection is handcrafted to order by Vermont furniture makers in your choice of solid cherry, maple, or walnut woods with a eco-friendly non-toxic oil finish that not only protects, but enhances the natural beauty of the wood.

2. American Mission Blanket Chest: The wood for our American Mission Blanket Chest is sustainably harvested right here in America. Store all your comforters in this stylish solid wood blanket chest. A very high end piece of mission bedroom furniture that will become a future heirloom in your family.

Quick Tip: To stay organized, use smaller containers for your items that need to stay in pairs (heavy socks, mittens, etc) and keep that container inside of the blanket chest!

3. Vermont Made Shaker Blanket Chest: This luxury Vermont-Made Shaker Blanket Chest lifts open smoothly to store all your blankets and necessities in style. Each chest is eco-friendly, made from sustainably harvested woods and handmade to be heirloom quality. Ceder lined bottom and the lid stays where you leave it up.

Are blanket chests part of your spring cleaning and decluttering routine? If not, what do you use to store your winter excess? Let us know on Facebook or in the comments section of this blog! As always, we look forward to hearing your opinions. Stay warm and good luck with your spring cleaning, friends.

Even though there’s still snow on the ground we’re thinking Spring at Vermont Woods Studios. So in anticipation of the rebirth of our green landscape it seems like a good time to talk about the renaissance of handmade wooden furniture.

Last month I took a trip to Manhattan to meet with leaders in the world of home decor and interior design. We talked about the fact that the past several years have been dominated by modern, contemporary decor with lots of metal, glass, upholstery and synthetics. Very little wood. But in 2014 the pendulum is swinging back to home decor that is much more connected to our natural world. Check out Architectural Digest’s latest interiors page and you’ll find the richness of handmade wood furniture, flooring and accessories throughout.

These occasional tables are handcrafted of reclaimed wood and metal by Dan Mosheim and his sons in Dorset, Vermont. They can be customized online, in our showroom or… take a ride up to Dorset and work directly with Dan in his studio.

In 2014, interior designers and homeowners are looking to be refreshed by the authenticity and organic nature of real wood in their home decor. Reclaimed wood and metal are perhaps the most popular combination for furniture styles we’ve seen this year. The beautiful occasional tables above (handcrafted by Dan Mosheim and his sons) are a great example.

Here’s another example of handmade wooden furniture that’s trending up this Spring. It’s Copeland’s new Kyoto Dining Furniture Collection– proving that modern and wood are not an oxymoron when it comes to furniture!

Need more inspiration on how to refresh your home with the beauty of handmade wooden furniture this Spring? Visit the Architectural Digest annual Home Show in Manhattan, March 20-23. Or make a trip to beautiful Vermont and enjoy the bounty of nature inside our fine furniture showroom and outside on our scenic woodland trails.

Make your room feel new again, by adding one or all of these great accessories!

To make your bedroom feel new again, you don’t need to hire a designer and do a total makeover. There are several fun and simplistic things you can do to give your bedroom that freshness you’ve been craving!

1. Decorative pillows: Prices can range from super high end to nice and affordable. My favorite place to shop for new decorative pillows is the local thrift store. Mix & match for an eclectic look, sure to bring new life into your space.

2: Plants: Literally bring life into your bedroom! When things are feeling a little dull and uninspiring, introduce your favorite houseplant to your bedroom. They’re nice to look at, and many are super good for your health!

3. Accessorize with wood furniture: There’s a lot of wood furniture than can be used in a variety of different ways. This beautiful Copeland dining chair is very versatile, and would nicely complement your bedroom furniture! Put a pillow on top of it or leave it on its own, the beauty of this chair speaks for itself and makes a truly stylish accent piece.

4. Change your hardware: Are you currently using regular, cheap hardware for your windows & etc? Switch over to something a little more stylish! There are many options for high quality curtain rods & accessories.

5. Temporary Wallpaper. From bold and daring to modest and traditional, there is a temporary wallpaper for you. Add a statement wall or use it all across the entire bedroom to give you a totally new look without much cost or effort!

“Think sublime style, unstinting details, old-world craftsmanship. The charm of classic lines and modern style. Sensuous textures and saturated colors that dress your home, your life. This is the essence of ANICHINI.” Check out their new design center in Quechee, VT where I took this snapshot. Every direction you look is more charming than the last!

No tour of Vermont’s luxury home decor brands would be complete without a visit to Anichini, Inc. The Green Mountain State is home to this mecca for high end interior designers who feather the nests of the rich and famous. The company, founded 26 years ago by Susan Dollenmaier, has become the “most prestigious brand of luxury textiles and home furnishings”. It is a full spectrum textile company specializing in rare and handcrafted fabrics and products. I visited Anichini’s new design center in Quechee, VT last week while on my tour of Vermont’s top luxury home decor brands. May I just say right here and now that I have never seen a collection of such beautiful and luxurious fabrics in all my life? What an indulgence for the senses. All of them… not just sight… so many different textures and subtle fragrances of linens, cottons, wool, cashmere and other fibers. Wow.

“In an era where the word “luxury” is used to describe everything from a bus ride to a bottle of shampoo, ANICHINI has raised the bar on the definition of “luxury” with textiles that are the ultimate in opulence and craftsmanship.” How would these luxurious Anichini linens, fabrics and textiles look in your home?

Anichini Inc. imports fabrics (Muga silks from Assam, Tibetan cashmere woven in Nepal, Ottoman inspired velvets and tapestries from Turkey, Renaissance replications from Umbria, Linen from Lithuania, Woven silks from Morocco) because they are simply unavailable in the USA. However, as shown in this video (The Craftsmanship of Rural Women) those fabrics are sewn here in Vermont by a group of talented seamstresses in Turnbridge.

Found in the linen closets of royal palaces and celebrities around the world, Anichini fabrics round out Vermont’s luxury home decor brand portfolio. They are future heirlooms that celebrate the “extraordinary designs, rare materials, and traditional techniques that are soon to be lost. ” Come see them for yourself! We hope to be featuring a nice selection of Anichini linens at Stonehurst, which will soon be your launch pad into the world of Vermont’s authentic, handcrafted home furnishings.

The Estelle chair is an ultra modern, geometrical chair that highlights the minimalist beauty and style of mid-century modern furniture. Sculpted in solid American Walnut wood, this side chair has a slender, vertically split back and finely sculpted seat for the ultimate in comfort. Rounded, angular tapered legs complete the stunning contemporary design.

The Estelle chair is unique in it’s versatility– making any room instantly more chic and well styled. This elegant chair has made its rounds on Polyvore, with dozens of people creating stunning sets using it as an accent to their dream rooms & decor. What struck me is how these sets really bring out the ways in which the Estelle chair can be used, and the variety of rooms it will fit in.

Can you imagine this beautiful midcentury modern chair in your home? Register for Polyvore and start making your sets now! You’ll find the Estelle chair on Polyvore here. Create other cool Polyvore sets and share them with us! Post your set to our Facebook page, the comments section of this blog, or email them to kelsey.eaton@vermontwoodsstudios.com